Dodge and Parry
by katzesama
Summary: Alicia was pretty sure things couldn't get much worse, but when Mokuba gets a new girlfriend... well, let's just say things got a little weird. The sequel to First Impressions.
1. The Void

It had been six months since Alicia had started working for Kaiba. Six long and painful months of paperwork. Itineraries, reports, letters, briefings- anything that required paper, she was forced to do, and all of it was tedious and painful. She didn't know what she did to piss God off, but she was definitely paying for something she did. Divine retribution was the only explanation.

Or maybe Kaiba was just a cruel, vindictive asshole. One or the other.

Regardless of how much she was certain that some divine being or her boss just simply hated her, she still did her work extremely well just to spite them both. As far as she was concerned they deserved it. So in the past six months, she'd gone from just being Kaiba's secretary to being his assistant. It pained Kaiba to admit that she was the most competent and useful person who worked for him, so he never admitted it.

At least, not out loud where she could hear him.

Given this tolerated relationship between the two of them, it was incredibly odd to see the two of them together outside of work doing nothing work related whatsoever: having dinner. It had come completely out of the blue when she was getting ready to leave and he just walked up and asked her out to dinner. This was their current situation.

Kaiba was swirling the whiskey in his glass around pensively, watching Ali avoid looking at him and taking nervous sips from her club soda.

"We do have a chauffeur," he remarked. "You can drink as much as you want."

Ali looked up at him and shrugged before diverting her gaze again.

"I don't drink," she said simply.

Kaiba's brows went up in mild surprise, though it didn't really show because the man had the expressional capacity of a rock.

"Bad experience?" he asked casually, taking a sip from his own drink.

Ali shrugged again and suddenly became very interested in the light fixture at the table behind him.

"I just choose not to. It's never really appealed to me."

"Huh."

Kaiba sat back in his chair and Ali finally looked at him. Her expression was a little indignant at hearing his quiet interjection, as she was frowning slightly.

"What?" she asked.

Kaiba shrugged.

"Nothing. You just strike me as the kind of woman who would take solace in a glass of wine."

"...You think I'm a drunk," Ali deadpanned.

He took another sip of his drink and resisted the urge to smirk.

"I never said that."

"You were thinking it."

Okay, he had to give her that.

"Touche," he muttered.

"Touche indeed."

A tense quiet descended on their table and Alicia immediately went back to avoiding his gaze again, though she was no longer nervous. After about a minute or two, she broke the silence.

"I'm curious," she said idly, looking at him again. "Why the sudden urge to go out to dinner?"

"I didn't feel like eating alone," he replied curtly.

"Wow." Ali chuckled softly and set her glass back down on the table. "And here I thought you had no emotions."

Kaiba scoffed, frowning slightly.

"Very funny."

"Yeah, but here's the part that gets me," she continued, "Why me? I mean, you don't really like me and the only other human being you actually interact with is your brother."

His frown deepened and now it was his turn to look away from her. She was even smirking now, so it was just adding insult to injury. Being quiet would just give her more of a reason to pry, however, so he reluctantly admitted to himself that he had to give her something.

"He's been..._occupied_ lately."

"So he got a girlfriend and you're just lonely?"

Kaiba glared at her and set his own glass down on the table.

"I am _not _lonely," he snapped.

Ali rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"_Please_," she scoffed. "I have two brothers who are inseparable. One of them got a girlfriend and the other one was miserable until he got one, too. Up to that, however, he hung out with me non-stop to fill the void."

Once finished with her explanation, she picked up her glass again and wagged a finger at him.

"I know these things."

Kaiba grumbled something under his breath that Ali was certain to be a denial mixed with an insult. She ignored him, however, and took another sip from her drink. Kaiba leaned forward and pointed a finger at her.

"So say that I _am_ lonely," he said, "Why would I use you to fill the void?"

Ali shrugged again for the third time that night and sipped her drink nonchalantly.

"Convenience," she said simply. "You see me practically every day, all day, and I'm usually the only person you see before hiding away in your office."

She chuckled and smiled warmly at him for the first time that night.

"Not to mention, I can't necessarily say 'no' because you sign my paycheck."

Kaiba sighed and shook his head.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

Ali's smile broadened into a grin.

"Not in the slightest."

Kaiba had to admit that he admired the fact that she was willing to be honest with him. Out of all of his employees, Alicia was the only one with enough guts to stand up to him. Maybe that was why he was trying to "fill the void" with her.

The quiet descended on their table again and the two of them spent the rest of their evening in silence. They didn't speak again until they pulled up in front of Ali's apartment building. Exhaling, Ali shifted on the seat of the limo and looked over at Kaiba.

"Thanks for dinner. As awkward as it was, it was actually kind of nice."

Kaiba looked away with a derisive snort.

"Well don't get used to it."

"Didn't plan on it."

Ali pushed open the car door and stepped out onto the pavement before closing it behind her. The limo sped away seconds later, leaving her on the alone on the sidewalk. Heaving a sigh, Ali turned and walked back into the building.


	2. Lunch Special

The following morning, everything seemed to return to normal. Kaiba dumped another load of paperwork on her and returned to his usual state of indifference before holing himself up in his office.

Ali was maybe about a third of the way through her allotted stack of papers when Mokuba made one of his token appearances at the company. He was a fairly attractive young man, tall like his brother, but his hair reminded Alicia of her own wild mass of black hair. It was the one thing that the two of them had sort of bonded over. He was also the much cheerier of the two brothers- nowhere near as sour as Kaiba.

"Morning Ali!"

She smiled warmly up at him.

"Good morning, sir. Nice haircut."

Mokuba ruffled his now short hair and chuckled in response.

"It's easier to manage this way," he said sheepishly.

Ali nodded and got up from her desk to meander over to the copy machine.

"I know how that is. 'Course, if I got mine cut now it'd be weird."

"You'd pull it off better than I do," he replied.

Both of them started laughing and Ali shook her head.

"You know that I would, sir, but it'd make you look bad."

He sighed and dug his hands into his pockets. Ali recognized this sort of uneasiness, she saw it in her own brothers all the time. It was the unease that came with one brother not knowing the other's reaction. She turned to look at him and raised an eyebrow.

"You're awfully nervous for someone with a brand new girlfriend," she remarked. "She must be really something if you're afraid of what Cheery Charlie thinks."

Mokuba coughed nervously and chuckled sheepishly.

"My brother's not-"

"He is and you know it."

Ali walked over and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder to the best of her ability.

"I'll let him know you're here."

Skirting around him, she made her way over to the sole door and didn't bother to knock before opening it wide enough to stick her head just inside. As usual, Kaiba was sitting at his desk, staring blankly at the computer screen and his fingers were dancing across the keyboard. It was a robotic stance that he took up every day until he left in the evening.

He didn't even look up at the sound of the door.

"What?"

"Your brother's here to see you, Mr. Kaiba."

Kaiba looked up immediately and Ali stepped back to make way for Mokuba. The younger brother gave her a nervous look and she simply shrugged. Sighing, he slipped inside the office and Ali shut the door behind him. Whatever happened in there was their business, but she felt a twinge of pity for Mokuba. Kaiba was as unfeeling as a rock and just as expressive.

Reminded her of her mother.

At any rate, she didn't have to wait long before one of them came storming out of the office, only it wasn't the one she was expecting. Kaiba burst out of the door, grabbed Ali by the arm and dragged her across the carpet.

"Hey, what are you- _HEY!_"

He completely ignored her protests and pulled her along into the elevator without a single word. Ali was familiar with this mood- this was a bad mood. This was his unmistakably frustrated mood and there was no talking him down from it. It was usually better to just go along with him, no questions asked.

Which is how they wound up eating lunch together, though Kaiba was in a foul mood.

Alicia figured it was in her best interest to not say anything as he glared at the table, muttering under his breath with the occasional snort. Whoever this girl was that Mokuba had taken an interest in, Kaiba didn't approve or he was still sore that Mokuba was choosing to spend time with a girl instead of him. Ali had seen this all before.

So, against her better judgment, she bit the bullet and attempted to talk to him.

"Sir."

He looked up from glowering at the table and gave her a warning look.

"Sir, it may be none of my business-"

"It _is _none of your business."

"...It _may _not be any of my business, but I think you're taking this too seriously."

"You have no right-"

"Oh for the love of God, _please_! You can't tell me that you didn't have a girlfriend at his age."

Kaiba became very, very quiet. Realization dawned on Alicia and she was forced to stifle a snicker.

"You've _never _had a girlfriend?"

"I never said-"

"You have never had a girlfriend! Not even one!"

Alicia couldn't hold it in anymore- she started to laugh so hard, she was sobbing. Kaiba's lips pressed together in a thin line and he continued to glare at the woman in front of him, though his stare wasn't as sharp as before.

"It's an inconvenience," he muttered.

"Oh sweet mother of God, this is _priceless_!"

Ali almost fell out of her seat. Kaiba's glare hardened back into ice again and he pointed a finger at her.

"Stop laughing," he ordered.

Ali's fit continued for another thirty seconds before she'd calmed down enough to catch her breath, her chest heaving with the exertion to put oxygen back into her lungs. Sitting back up straight, Ali shook her head with a few ghosting laughs escaping in-between gasps for air.

"Sorry," she breathed. "I just...It's just..." She stifled another snicker. "Are you gay?"

Kaiba looked mildly horrified at the suggestion.

"Absolutely _not_," he seethed. "I have been with _several _women."

Ali raised an eyebrow.

"So you're afraid of commitment?"

"No."

"Afraid of women?"

"No!"

"...Low self-esteem?"

"NO!"

Kaiba's last outburst had him banging his fist on the table. Ali looked him over skeptically, lips pursing together in thought.

"Are you _sure _you're not gay?"

"So help me, Romano," he growled. "If you weren't the most competent employee I have-"

Alicia's lips quirked into a smirk.

"Was that a compliment, sir?"

Kaiba froze. The one thing he swore to never admit to her, even if he were dying, just flew out of his mouth without a second thought. Not even a single thought, actually. Swallowing hard, he managed to choke out:

"It was not."

"Sounded like one to me," she quipped back.

Kaiba's scowl deepened (if that was at all possible) and he narrowed his eyes.

"It. Was. Not."

Ali shrugged nonchalantly, sitting back in her chair and browsing through the menu.

"Whatever you say," she replied. "So now that we're done debating your sexuality, you want to split something? I'm not that hungry."

Kaiba sat back in his own chair, completely stunned.

"That's it?" he spluttered. "You're just dropping it?"

"Isn't that what you want?" she asked idly.

"Well, yes, but-"

Ali briefly glanced up from her menu to give him an uninterested look.

"Then why are you complaining?"

He didn't have an answer for that and, deciding that he wasn't going to answer her, she looked back down at the menu.

"If we aren't splitting anything, I'm just getting a salad," she declared as she set it down on the table.

Kaiba gave her one last incredulous look before turning his attention to his own menu.

"You are such a strange woman," he muttered.

Alicia smiled at him and took a sip from her water.

"And you are such a child, sir."


	3. Coffee Break

**A/N: It's been a while hasn't it? These chapters keep sitting around gathering dust... shame on me.**

Upon returning to the office from their lunch together, Kaiba locked himself in his office demanding he not be disturbed for any reason or by anyone. Ali had sat right back down at her desk without a single glance at Mokuba, who had decided to lean on the edge of her desk and mope. Apparently, he hadn't left the office the entire time they'd been gone.

After a few minutes of an awkward silence only broken by the sound of Ali typing away on her computer, Mokuba worked up enough nerve to speak.

"Hey, umm..."

He was stumbling over his words and Ali picked right up on that. Glancing up at him, she saw that his face was red with embarrassment- or rather shame at getting her involved in his brotherly spat. She raised an eyebrow and gave him a prompting look.

"...Thank you," he spluttered, almost relieved. "For putting up with Seto."

She gave him a comforting smile and went back to her computer screen.

"Don't mention it," she replied casually. "But if he keeps taking me out to eat, I'm going to gain 15 pounds."

"He took you out?"

There was no ignoring the surprise in Mokuba's voice. Apparently, interaction with other human beings was incredibly unusual for Seto Kaiba if his own brother was startled by that. Ali giggled softly.

"It's really _that _weird?"

"No, it's just..."

Mokuba paused, debating if he should state the obvious.

"...Nevermind," he finished. "Thanks again, Ali. I owe you one."

_You better damn believe it_, she thought as he left the office. Putting up with Kaiba as much as she had in the past two days practically warranted that she get a raise.

This odd behavior did not stop with lunch.

Over the next month, Kaiba would sporadically interrupt whatever it was that she was doing to drag her off to do something else. He took her out to eat, for drinks, to movie premiers... things that he usually did with Mokuba- less often than not interrupting her plans with Misa and Inez. To be honest, it was getting really annoying.

"You've been spending a _lot _of time with Kaiba lately."

And people were starting to notice.

"Haven't had much of a choice, really," Ali mumbled through a mouthful of donut. "He keeps dragging me off before I can tell him 'no'."

Inez gave Ali a sympathetic look over her coffee. She knew exactly what it felt like to get stuck under Kaiba's thumb. Misa, however, scoffed indignantly and popped the rest of her donut into her mouth before wagging a finger at Ali.

"Well he keeps ruining our plans," she stated, obviously annoyed. "You've got to tell him to stop..." She paused to swallow her donut. "Or something."

Ali sighed and washed down the bite of donut with a swig of water.

"I'll see what I can do," she said. "But for now, we're still on for Saturday."

Misa nodded in approval.

"Good. Hey Nezzie, is your boyfriend coming with us?"

Inez smiled softly and shook her head.

"Nah, he's in Egypt again."

Inez was the only one out of all three of them with a steady relationship. Her boyfriend was a professor at the university, but he liked to spend most of his time in the field wherever there were plates that were older than dirt. Alicia was really glad that Inez _had _a boyfriend. It wasn't that she wasn't attractive, Inez was just very quiet and easy to overlook. Ali was also secretly jealous of Inez's perfectly straight chestnut hair and big emerald eyes, but that was besides the point.

Misa, however, was fairly outspoken. Her hair was still that obnoxious shade of blond and cut incredibly short. Her eyes were a shade of blue that were always filled with this energy that was almost contagious. To say that it was would be an overstatement.

"Is he ever home?" Misa asked. "It seems to me like he's constantly spending his time with those fossils."

Inez giggled.

"He's home more often than you'd think, and those 'fossils' are his colleagues."

Misa shrugged.

"Same difference."

Inez giggled again and opened her mouth to retort when her face immediately paled. Noting her instant expression change, Misa glanced over her shoulder before nudging Ali insistently.

"Kaiba at 12 o'clock."

Ali glanced back in the direction Misa had indicated and her face fell. He had that expression again- the one that meant she was going to be MIA for the next hour or two. Groaning inwardly, she put her donut down on the table and pinched the bridge of her nose, shutting her eyes.

"Oh please, God, no..."

Right on cue, Kaiba grabbed her by the arm and dragged her off across the room. She didn't even bother protesting anymore. It's not like he was going to listen to her anyways.

Misa and Inez watched their friend as she was yanked along by her arm as if it was some sort of leash before Kaiba and Ali disappeared around the corner. The two women sat in silence for a moment before Misa picked up the rest of Alicia's donut.

"Misa!"

Misa glanced up at Inez, who was staring at her- appalled. Shrugging, Misa took a bite out of the fried piece of dough.

"It's not like she's going to eat the rest of it."

Heaving a sigh, Inez shook her head wearily while Misa finished off the rest of Ali's midmorning snack.


	4. Terms

"You have _really _got to stop doing this."

Ali and Kaiba were seated in the back of his limousine on their way to brunch and the ebony haired American was glaring at him. Kaiba hummed in response and continued to look completely uninterested.

This only pissed her off more.

"No, really!" she snapped. "It's inconvenient!"

Kaiba still said nothing.

"Look," she continued, "Y'know, I _do _have a life, and I really don't appreciate-"

"Romano," he broke in. "We're both reasonable adults, yes?"

She paused in a stunned silence. Kaiba looked over at her and raised both eyebrows in a slightly prompting expression. Coming to the conclusion that he wasn't at least going to let her rant, she shrugged simply and let it go.

"I certainly hope so, sir," she replied. Then, with a twinge of curiosity, she asked: "Why?"

Kaiba shifted in his seat and cleared his throat.

"What?"

"I have a proposition for you," he stated.

Both of her eyebrows went up in surprise and he took her silence as a prompt to continue.

"You and I have spent a considerable amount of time together over the past few weeks. As is such, I propose that-"

"Oh dear God."

Alicia stared at Kaiba in disbelief, her expression blank as her brain fully processed what was going on.

"You're asking me to sleep with you."

Kaiba shrugged.

"That is my intent, yes."

"Are you out of your mind?!" she hissed. "You're my boss! I can't-"

"Rest assured that it would remain strictly casual and not affect your position in any way."

"That doesn't make it any better."

He sighed and rolled his eyes before rubbing his temples.

"Alicia," he said quietly. "I would not be asking you this if I did not value you in slightest."

The use of her given name was a little surprising, but Ali was too angry to care at this point.

"You shouldn't be asking me at all!" she retorted.

Kaiba sat up and grabbed her harshly by the arm, giving her a warning look.

"If I so wished, I could throw you down and have my way with you and just as easily fire you without a second thought," he said quietly. "Regardless of who your father is."

Ali's lips pressed into a thin line.

"How long have you known?"

"Since the beginning, and I doubt he'd really have any say against me in a court of law."

She considered her position. She considered it _carefully_. Kaiba was dead serious, and that usually was never a good thing unless it had something to do with a business deal. True, her family had money enough to take him to court, but Kaiba was a businessman. He specialized in finding loopholes and bullying other people into doing what he wanted.

And, to be totally honest, he _had _asked her.

Heaving a sigh, she shook her head in defeat.

"Fine- _fine_," she replied. "Now will you please let go of me?"

He released her arm and sat back in the seat.

"However," she continued, "I have one question for you."

Kaiba looked over at Alicia, smug satisfaction on his face with his victory over her.

"Why me?" she asked.

An expression of mild surprise passed over Kaiba's face for a moment. He wasn't entirely sure how to answer that- most women never bothered to ask. But Alicia was genuinely curious as to why he'd picked her. He thought it over for a moment.

He _could _tell her that it was because he thought she was remarkably attractive- which she was. She was the perfect balance of Eurasian. Her features did not lack definition, but neither were they too prominent. Her complexion was as smooth as porcelain, her hair a silky shade of ebony and her eyes a warm brown. Alicia's figure also did not suffer, as she was slender without lacking curves. Yes, he found her very attractive and on more than one occasion he'd stared at her ass when she wasn't looking.

But that would be a little creepy, so he went with plan B.

"Well, I don't hate you," he said. "And you've proven to be one of the more intelligent women that I've met."

"That almost sounded like another compliment," she said wryly.

He frowned in response.

"Don't push it."

She shrugged and chuckled warmly.

"So what's the catch?"

"Excuse me?"

He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. Ali rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in response.

"Don't give me that look. There's _always _a catch with you."

Kaiba was thoughtful for a moment.

"Well it goes without saying that you won't speak about this to anyone-"

"I wouldn't want to."

He frowned again.

"...I'll also need you to expect this to happen more than once."

Alicia nodded.

"Fabulous," she muttered.

He opened his mouth to snap at her, but she cut him off.

"I have _one _condition."

He closed his mouth promptly and raised both of his brows in mild shock. Alicia held up her index finger.

"One day," she said. "Once a week I will spend the entire evening with you. No more, no less."

He nodded. That was reasonable enough.

"I see no reason to contest that," he replied. "Anything else?"

She shook her head and sat back in her seat, satisfied with her own little victory.

"Nope. I'm good."


End file.
